SENATORS said they intend to investigate the Department of Health after the Commission on Audit (CoA) found the department to have overstocked P18.4 billion worth of medicine, much of which is approaching their expiration dates.
Senator Juan Edgardo M. Angara, in Senate Resolution No. 53, proposed to conduct the investigation into the department’s medicine inventory, procured between 2015 and 2018.
“Many Filipinos for lack of money can’t buy medicine or are undermedicating themselves. And then they read reports about drugs in some government warehouses going to waste,” Mr. Angara said in a statement late Wednesday.
CoA, in its 2018 audit report, noted that P300 million worth of medicine, or 2% of the overall stock, was nearing expiry as of Jan. 31, 2019. The report also found that over P30 million worth of expired medicine was distributed to various health centers.
Mr. Angara said the Health department should review its supply chain to determine the bottlenecks which cause overstocking.
“Is it a question of overprescription or the prescription of the wrong drugs?” he said.
Mr. Angara raised the need for an inquiry in light of the implementation of Republic Act No. 11223, or the Universal Health Care Act, which will cost P257 billion in the first year of implementation.
In a separate development, Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson said he is receiving information on the alleged “conflict of interest” involving Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III as well as other irregularities in the operations of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.
“Hindi lang kay Secretary Duque, pati sa PhilHealth…Pero ang dapat mas tingnan natin ang sa PhilHealth (Not just with Mr. Duque, but also PhilHealth, which we need to pay more attention to)” Mr. Lacson said in a briefing Thursday.
Mr. Lacson has said that a PhilHealth office in Region 1 is located in a building owned by the family of Mr. Duque. He also recently revealed that the DoH awarded contracts to Doctors Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (DPI), which is largely owned by the family of Mr. Duque.
The blue ribbon committee has said that Mr. Duque will not be attending a hearing set for next week as he will be visiting regions affected by the Dengue outbreak. — Charmaine A. Tadalan
